Monday, April 13, 2009

ONG Chapter 5. Quotes of Interest.

Reading through the chapter, I came across a few quotes that left me thinking, and quite possibly gave me some ideas for my term paper.

pg. 117 'sight is often deceived, hearing serves as guarantee.'

This quote was interesting to me because I would have thought this expression to be the other way around. For sometimes someone hears something and translates the words in their heads in a way that the other person did not mean them to come out. Usually seeing something with your own eyes is more of a guarantee than hearing something that was said by someone else. Nonetheless, intriguing.

pg. 119 "Our attitudes are the ones that have changed, and thus that need to be explained. Why does the original, presumably more 'natural' procedure seem wrong with us? Because we feel the printed words before us as visual units (even though we sound them at least in imagination when we read).
"All test involves sight and sound."

pg. 123 "Manuscript culture had preserved a feeling for a book as a kind of utterance, an occurrence in the course of conversation, rather than as an object."

pg. 134 "Like primary orality, secondary orality has generated a strong group sense, for listening to spoken words forms hearers into a group, a true audience, just as reading written or printed texts turns individuals in on themselves."

"In our age of secondary orality, we are groupminded self-consciously and progmatically. The individual feels that he or she, as an individual, must be socially sensitve. Unlike members of a primary oral culture, who are turned outward because they have had little occasion to turn inward, we are turned outward because we have turned inward."

After reading these two quotes, I feel like this is a topic that I might want to dive into a little further for my paper. The idea of primary orality creating a group, and secondary orality focusing on the individual interests me. Has the secondary orality culture taken us away from a "pack" mentality and created a culture where we are more focused on the individual, hense, making us more aware of others because we have become aware of our own truths? Anways. Not sure if im making any sense of this, or going anywhere, but I am interested in doing some comparing between primary and secondary oral cultures.

Faroese Oral Traditions



In my World Literature class with Prof. Coffey, we have been studying Scandinavian literature and have looked at many of their oral traditions as well. One of the main areas that we have focused on is the oral traditions of the Faroese Islands. While most of Scandinavian cultures still use oral traditions today, I found that the Faroese Island traditions were the most prominent and interesting. If it were not for the act of storytelling, many pieces of literature could have been lost in time because saying something does not finalize it the way that print does. While peices of literature have derived from the oral traditions and stories, some of the oral traditions of the Faroe islands still continue to this day.

Dr. Sexson has explained how it is impossible for the oral and literate cultures to exist in the same place. The interesting thing about the Faroe islands is the fact that the people use orality in one language, and are literate in another. Because there are only a small number of people on the islands, the Faroese do not write books in their own language because not enough people would read them. Because of this fact, they are forced to read and become literate in a different language than they grew up speaking.

Some examples of oral traditions that are used on the Faroese islands include their traditional ballads which are called Kvaeoi. (that word has accents on it that I could not figure out how to do on the computer) These ballads are used in set verse form and usually incorporate repetition, themes and recurring motifs, rythm, music, dance and formulate diction. Sometimes the people perform brandle simple which is the word for a chain or ring dance. In these dances the people will repeat verses over and over in a chant form. The bard, or main voice present in the chant, knows the chant better than anyone in the group and speaks the loudest. If people forget a verse they let the bard continue on without them until they can pick it up again. Another example of one of their oral traditions is the Drunner Verse. This verse is a feroese wedding custom that is a game of exchanging words with the bride and groom, in a playful teasing mannar to poke fun at them. These jokes are usually in reference to making fun of what the couple will do when the wedding party is over.. Another example of their oral culture are the Tattur, or satiric ballads, which strongly express the power of words in their culture.

The Feroese people do not just use their oral traditions during ceremonies, such as their great whale hunt, but they also continue the oral traditions in their own homes. At night, a husband and wife will engage in kvolseta which translates to evening work at home. During this time, the women would knit and their husbands would spin the wheel. While they were knitting, both the husband and wife chant an oral ballad in a sort of whistling while they work manner.

It is interesting to take two classes that are focused on some of the same material because it gives you a better understanding of the same topic through different points of view.

famous greek epithets

  • Abantes
    • great-hearted
    • very helpfull
  • Achaeans
    • flowing-haired
    • bronzed-armored
    • strong-greaved
    • glancing-eyed
    • far-famed
  • Achilles
    • son of Peleus
    • swift-footed (podas ôkus)
    • god-like (dios)
    • shepherd of the people
    • leader of men
    • the great runner
  • Aeneas
    • lord of men
    • godlike
    • son of Anchises
    • counselor of the Trojans
    • lord of the Trojans
    • high-hearted
    • likes
  • Agamemnon
    • son of Atreus
    • wide-ruling
    • lord of men
    • the lord marshal
    • godlike
    • powerful
    • skilled breaker of horses
    • shepherd of the people
    • brilliant
  • Aias/Ajax
    • "Great" Aias
    • swift
    • gigantic
    • high-hearted
  • Aphrodite
    • laughing
    • daughter of Zeus
    • goddess of love
  • Apollo
    • distant deadly Archer
    • god of the silver bow
    • rouser of armies
    • son of Zeus
  • Ares
    • curse of men
    • sacker of cities
    • of the glinting helmet
    • manslaughtering
    • women raping
  • Athena
    • Pallas
    • gray-eyed
    • hope of soldiers
  • Artemis
    • the archer-goddess
    • of the golden distaff
  • Calypso
    • beautiful nymph
    • softly-braided nymph
    • divine
    • goddess most divinely made
    • lovely nymph
    • beautiful
  • Dawn
    • with her rose-red fingers ("rosy-fingered")
  • Diomedes
    • god-like
    • high-spirited
    • son of Tydeus
    • great spearman
    • horse tamer
    • master of the war cry
    • the powerful
  • Hector
    • tall
    • horse tamer
    • shepherd of the people
    • son of Priam
    • of the glinting helmet
    • brilliant
    • man-killing
  • Helen
    • long-dressed
    • lovely haired
    • daughter of a noble house
  • Hera
    • ox-eyed lady
    • goddess of the white arms
  • Hephaestus
    • the famous craftsman
    • the famous lame god
  • Hermes
    • messenger
    • son of Zeus
    • giant-killer
    • the strong one
  • Kronos
    • devious-devising
    • all-powerful
  • Menelaus
    • red-haired king
    • master of the war-cry
    • fair-haired
    • son of Atreus
    • war-like
    • spear-famed
  • Nestor
    • godlike
    • splendid
    • Gerenian charioteer
    • son of Neleus
    • Pylos born king
    • sweet spoken
    • high-hearted
  • Odysseus
    • brilliant
    • sacker of cities
    • god-like
    • resourceful ("man of many resources")
    • noble
    • tried
    • wise
    • loved of Zeus
    • great glory of the Aecheans
    • great-hearted
    • master mariner
    • mastermind of war
    • hotheaded
    • versatile
  • Pandaros
    • Lykaeon's splendid son
    • the strong and blameless son of Lykaon
    • godlike
  • Paris
    • Alexandros
    • godlike
    • son of Priam
  • Sea
    • wine-dark
    • grey
  • Thetis
    • lovely-haired
    • silver-footed
  • Tydeus
    • driver of horses
    • high-hearted
  • Zeus
    • mighty
    • son of Kronos
    • wide-seeing
    • the cloud-gatherer
    • father of gods and men
    • master of the bright lightning

...

The poem was originally shaped like the hour glass we discussed, but for some reason it would not post like one...

Happy Easter!

Easter Wings
by George Herbert

Lord, Who createdst man in wealth and store,
Though foolishly he lost the same,
Decaying more and more,
Till he became
Most poore:

With Thee
O let me rise,
As larks, harmoniously,
And sing this day Thy victories:
Then shall the fall further the flight in me.

My tender age in sorrow did beginne;
And still with sicknesses and shame
Thou didst so punish sinne,
That I became
Most thinne.

With Thee
Let me combine,
And feel this day Thy victorie;
For, if I imp my wing on Thine,
Affliction shall advance the flight in me.

Monday, April 6, 2009

TEST REVIEW

Know 
-Ong. Chapters 4,5,6 
-Bruno
-Article on Finnegans Wake

1) Nietzsche says, 'We are all walking DICTIONARIES.'
2)Lull: motion/rotational, no images, non corporeal, ladder, tree
3) What shape does literature use to tell stories? The Triangle and the Box. Literate/Oral
-   mis-en-abyme : into the abyss 
4) Reformation would not have been possible without the rise of the printing press. 
5) Significance of the mandela in reference to Finnegans Wake. (Squaring of the Circle) 
6) The Alphabet makes it possible for us to read, and learning to read democratizes the alphabet. 
7) ONG pg. 142:  'Song is the remembrance of songs sung.'  Gesang ist dazeine: Song is existence
8) ONG pg. 130: 'Print is comfortable with finality.'  finality & closure
9) YATES pg. 224: 'Such a memory...... of a divine men'     ...talking about bruno
10) Alithiometer: truth measure. Truth means not forgetting. Knowledge is remembering what you have forgotten. 
11) Camillo built the seven pillars from salomon's house of wisdom. 
12) What is the epithet that concludes the Illiad? 'tamer of horses'
13) The alphabet was invented 1 time. ONG 88
14) 1 in 3. What are the chances anything will happen?
15) Tai and Robert used their bodies for their memory systems. 
16) What do the 7 steps in Camillo's memory palace represent? 7 pillars represent 7 planets. 
17) FW: 'before writing there was speech and before speech there were gestures.'
18) YATES 188: Lull & Kabala.  Jewish mystical system based on the mystical properties of the Hebrew alphabet. 
19) Both Cyberspace and James Joyce's FW use hypertext. layered language. 
20) The ancient hebrew alphabet does not have vowels. LTRTR - literature
21) YATES 203: Bruno rushes out of the convent. 
22) What monk was burned at the stake? Bruno
23) ONG 126: What is the effect that Tristram Shandy uses to portray silence? Blank Space. 
24)George Herbert's poem "Easter Wings"  visual effect. hourglass shape. 
25) The most notoriously unread book is Finnegan's Wake. 

Wednesday, April 1, 2009

IN ORDER TO REMEMBER YOU HAVE TO BE DISMEMBERED

I have been stressing a bit because I remember a statement where MS told the class that we were required to know everyone's epithet in the class as well as their first and last names... also, that it is our duties to figure out everyone's first and last name. So I made a list of (almost) everyone's names and epithets.. I am missing three: Kelsey, Charlie and Danielle - sorry I did not find your last names! Here's the list, I hope it helps!

ZACH SMITH- ZA ZEN ZACH
ZACH MORRIS- ZACH OF THE SAVING BELLS
STEVEN OF THE RIVERS
SHANNON ROGERS MCLAUGHLIN- WISE WANDERING SHANNON
PARKER MANN- PARKER OF THE OUTBACK
KYLE KIENITZ- KYLE OF THE SKINNY JEANS
KELSEY ?- KELSEY OF THE FREE RENT
KAYLA KITCHENS- SNAKE HAIR KAYLA
JOHN NAY- JOHN NAY OF THE STRIPED HAT
JOAN GOSS- JOAN GOSSIMER VON GOSS
JARED ZYGARLICKE- JARED OF THE OPEN PLAINS
JAMES KUSHMAN- JAMES THE RAT
HELENA LA FAVE- HELENA OF THE 10,000 LAKES
CHRIS CLARK- CHRIS SCRIBBLES THE SCRIBE
PARKER CONNELL- CHECK MARK PARKER
BRIANNE BARBER- SUMMER BREEZE BRIANNE
BEN STATHIS- KEEN KENNING BEN
BRANDON SPEVACEK- BEARDED BRANDON
CHARLIE ?- TWO TOUNGUE CHARLIE
CARLY PARELIUS- CRAZY COFFEE CARLY
RICH ELBERT- BIG RICH
JANA CURRIE- JANA THE TAMER OF HORSES
KARI BOWLES- CHARISMATIC KARI
KATE BOUDIN- KATE OF THE BEAUTIFUL EYES
LISA HILLER- LISA OF THE LITTLE LEGS
LISA MEYER- LISA THE LUDDITE
MELISSA NEWMAN- SWEET SMILING MELISSA
KEVIN LUBY- BRIGHT EYES KEVIN
ERIN MORTENSON- EMO ERIN
WILLIAM MEZNARICH- WILLY QUIET WILLY
DANIELLE ?- RED DAMSEL DANIELLE
ROBERT LOOMIS- ROBERT OF THE WORDED LIMBS
JEFF SHUTT- DEEP SEA FISHING JEFF
SUTTER STREMEL- SUTTER THE SACKER OF CITIES
TAI KERSTEN- TAUTOLOGIC TAI